A8 • HERMISTONHERALD.COM
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 2018
OPINION
Flying high with
Olympic fever
Capitol is cumbersome for a reason
I remember the first time I sat in
a government meeting, put my head
in my hands, and thought, “what is
the point of this?”
I was new to reporting, and
didn’t want to sit until 9 p.m. on an
empty stomach and listen to city
councilors have the
first of what would
be many discus-
sions about whether
to implement a plas-
tic bag ban in the
city. To me the
JAYATI
answer seemed obvi-
RAMA-
ous. All the council-
KRISHNAN
ors, even, seemed to
already know how
they wanted to vote. But still they
talked, and weary audience mem-
bers listened.
Surprisingly, I made it out of
that meeting, and went on to report
several others. But in a few years
of covering various forms of gov-
ernment, whether school boards,
port and county commissions, or
city council, I’ve noticed that pat-
tern endures: discussion at the local
government level can seem long,
and delves into minutiae of issues
that don’t seem relevant to the
public.
I observed some of the same
things at the state government
level last week, when my Leader-
ship Hermiston class took a trip to
Salem. We were hosted by our State
Representative, Greg Smith, and
treated to an excellent tour of the
statehouse by his legislative assis-
tant, Phil Scheuers. The two-day
class included meetings with the
governor, speaker of the house and
house minority leader. We visited
the state courthouse and spoke with
several lobbyists that work with
Eastern Oregon businesses such as
dairy farms and power companies.
We also spent about an hour on
the House floor, listening to open-
ing ceremonies and a small amount
of discussion. We left, though,
during the reading of an individ-
ual bill, which lasted more than
an hour. As Rep. Smith told us,
the senate Republican leader was
opposed to the bill, which dealt
with end-of-life care, and asked for
it to be read in its entirety, 30-plus
pages of text. This pushed back
several other bills scheduled to be
read on the House floor that day.
Ultimately, the bill ended up pass-
ing, right along party lines.
PHOTO CONTRIBUTED BY FRAN RICE
Leadership Hermiston Class 21 visits with Oregon Governor Kate Brown at
the Oregon State Capitol in Salem.
“If you don’t engage
in discussion, you
become a victim of it.”
Lobbyist Craig Campbell
It took me back to the days of
listening to three hours of discus-
sion in which nobody changed their
minds, but something Scheuers said
after we left gave me pause.
“The reason democracy is meant
to be a little cumbersome is that
you want debate,” he said. “You
don’t want quick government. Any
time you run something through,
you end up spending next session
doing cleanup bills, because of
unintended consequences.”
He’s right, of course, that the
process does, and should take time.
It’s easy to get annoyed when you
end up writing what feels like the
same story for months, as legis-
lators debate and discuss minor
changes that don’t seem to have any
obvious impact.
But that discourse can mean the
difference between good legislation
and disastrous legislation. And the
fact that we can be privy to those
discussions is an under-utilized
privilege.
What I’d like to see, both as
a reporter and a citizen, is mak-
ing sure that long debate is worth
0
it. Are constituents going to be
better or worse off as a result of
your long-term consideration of
an issue? I maintain those coun-
cilors could have made up their
minds about those plastic bags in
two months, rather than the six or
seven it took. Something like the
gun control bill that passed through
the Oregon House last week war-
rants careful and serious discussion
— but I would hope that, too, is
important enough to decide in a rel-
atively short time.
It’s incumbent on citizens, too,
to familiarize themselves with the
process. My understanding of state
legislative procedures was fuzzy
at best prior to this trip, but there’s
no reason for it to be. If you have
a representative like Smith, who
makes himself readily available to
his constituents, it’s your responsi-
bility to take advantage of it. Visit
the statehouse, listen in on a com-
mittee meeting, learn how local and
state government work, and ask
questions of your legislators. That’s
why they’re there.
When lobbyist Craig Campbell
came to speak to our class, he said:
“If you don’t engage in discussion,
you become a victim of it.”
As citizens of a government in
which we’re all supposed to have
a say, we would do well to remem-
ber that.
———
Jayati Ramakrishnan is a
reporter for the Hermiston Herald
and East Oregonian.
during the 2018 Olympics —
I’m a Winter Olympics
that honor (or dishonor) goes
junkie, but several things con-
nected with things happen-
to Elizabeth Swaney, a U.S.
ing in PyeongChang have me
citizen who represented Hun-
gary in the women’s
scratching my head.
freeski halfpipe.
Reminiscent of “the
It seems she manip-
artist formerly known
ulated her way into the
as Prince,” the Russian
Olympics by grabbing
competitors are being
onto her grandparent’s
referred to as Olympic
Hungarian heritage and
Athletes from Russia.
then traveling around
This is the International
Tammy
the world to compete
Olympic Committee’s
Malgesini
in low-attended com-
way of allowing Rus-
INSIDE MY
petitions. She “earned”
sian athletes a chance to SHOES
an Olympic berth by
compete despite the mis-
deeds of their fellow country-
placing in the top 30 of the
men and widespread cheating
required number of competi-
tions, which wasn’t hard since
through a government doping
some contests didn’t even
program.
They can’t be referred to as draw 15 athletes. She did all
this without so much as per-
the Russian team, they aren’t
forming what competitors con-
allowed to wear their coun-
try’s colors, they can’t carry
sider tricks. The key was to
the Russian flag or play the
stay upright and finish.
national anthem and medals
I’m not even bragging
won won’t go toward the Rus- when I say I could do better
sian medal count total in his-
than her. However, I know I
tory books. But, evidently,
don’t possess the skills of an
Olympic athlete — that’s why
they can still use banned
I’m at home watching from
substances.
my daybed rather than strap-
Even with the vetting pro-
cess, an Olympic curler from
ping skis on and pretending to
Russia tested positive in a pre- be an elite athlete.
liminary test for a banned sub-
My favorite part of the
stance over the weekend. Seri- Olympics is short track speed
ously, though, curling?
skating. And its relay event —
Don’t get me wrong, I
they call it organized chaos —
is the bomb. My co-workers
enjoy watching grown men
seem to think that statement
and women slide around on
resembles the condition of my
ice while using a Swiffer to
desk area.
clear the way. But I question
The thing with short track
why a curling athlete would
is I have to wait four years
even need a performance-en-
hancing drug.
to see it. Unlike many other
Over the weekend, I was
Olympic events, short track
impressed with a seemingly
competitions held throughout
profound statement by Cammi the year aren’t televised.
Granato regarding the United
When my head felt like it
States women’s hockey team.
would explode last Tuesday, I
A former Olympian — she’s a decided to stay home. When
1998 gold medal and 2002 sil- I discovered that short track
ver medal winner in hockey — was being televised, it made
she’s qualified to give an insid- the decision that much easier.
er’s view. I said seemingly,
I feel a relapse coming on this
however, because when a Fol- Thursday.
gers commercial came on, I
———
realized she pretty much stole
Tammy Malgesini is the
the statement from the coffee
community editor. Her column,
Inside my Shoes, includes mus-
company.
However, that’s not the big- ings about life. Contact her at
gest theft that has occurred
tmalgesini@eastoregonian.com
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